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5.30.2013

Invitations - Signed, Sealed and Delivered!

A question I often get asked is how much should we spend on invitations. This is really a personal questions and depends on your budget. My invitations came to about $1.20CDN each. I was also very lucky that my aunt is an amazing artist, and she drew everything on our invitations by hand, and her friend created the digital files for the printer. Our costs probably would have doubled if did not have my aunt and her friend's help.

My friend had her invitations made in Indonesia, and it cost her $0.12 each. That's not a typo. Twelve cents! My bridesmaid's wedding invitations are laser cut, with a photo as the backing, and will cost between $3.00 - $5.00 each.

So my advice: choose a style you love, and get as many quotes as you can. You will most likely find the cheapest prices in Asia. If you have the time, and are not afraid of the potential risks, such as shipping, communication, and quality, then definitely have them done in Asia. If you're doing a small batch, and don't want to take those risks, then do them locally. But always ask around, get as many quotes as you possibly can, and NEGOTIATE!

We received our unassembled invitations from China a little while ago. While looking at the parts of the invitations was VERY daunting, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be when I was putting everything together. I also realized I am more anal-retentive than I thought I would be.

Our invitations had a backing card, vellum page (with the actual invitation details), map, RSVP, and also an invite to our rehearsal dinner. Since we are having a destination wedding, most of our guests are from out of town, so we thought we might as well invite everyone to our rehearsal dinner.

Step 1. Punch holes in the backing card and the vellum. Luckily the printer also printed marks for where the holes should be. That saved me a LOT of time. It's a good idea to get your printer to do the same for you.

Step. 2 Cut the ribbon to the length you want. I did a test ribbon, and just cut the rest to the same length. Tip: use SHARP scissors, and cut all the ribbon first, instead of one at a time for each invitation. I also decided to dovetail the ribbon. To do that, simply fold the end in half, and cut at an angle. I wasn't too particular about have the exact same angle for each ribbon. It probably would've taken me a lot more time if I was THAT anal.

Step 3. Tie backing card to the vellum with ribbon. This part was pretty quick once you get in the zone. Pay attention about which side of the ribbon is shiny, and also how the knot is tied. I tried to make them all as similar as possible.

Step 4. Tie all the different cards together with raffia. I wanted a more rustic look, so I tied everything together with raffia. I only got one roll of raffia from the craft store, so guests who didn't give me their address in time for the first batch of invites ended up not getting raffia with their package.

Step 5. Here they are, all in their little pearlized envelopes. I also had a rubber stamp made with our names and return address. But because of the type of paper the envelope was made of, the stamp just smudged. So sadly, we didn't use our stamp.

Step 6. Labels. I used clear printer labels. I have terrible hand-writing. So why waste time writing out names and address when I can just print them with a nice font? Efficiency is key!

I assembled about 60 invitations. It took me 5 hours, and I did it on my own. It obviously would have taken less time if I had help. But I wanted everything to look the same, so I opted to do everything on my own.

My question to you, how much did you/will you be spending on your wedding invitations?

4 comments
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I got married last October 2012. My wedding invitation was DIY too! I searched over the internet for the design and layout then bought the materials in my city. I only made 50 pieces invitation and it cost me around 800pesos (20$).If I order it in a shop its 65pesos-100pesos per piece! It saved us a lot!